A long time ago I volunteered at a conference for Deaf/Blind participants held at Gallaudet University. It was a lot of fun. There were daily challenges to keep up with the participants who wanted to go everywhere and do everything. I was joyfully run ragged. I have one specific memory, a lesson that sticks with me to this day on expanding thinking beyond myself.

For the past four years, the World Economic Forum has studied the gender gap - that is, the amount of resources dedicated to boys and girls and women's opportunities to fully participate in society - in over 100 countries, then ranked them. (In 2009, the Index included data from 134 nations. At least 12 of 14 indicators used for the Index must be available in order for a country to be included.) The goal, according to the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report, is:

1 Man, older and less educated than the woman 1 Woman, at least 5 years younger (be sure to check freshness date!) and smarter than the man 0 Couples of the same sex 0 Previous divorces 0 Cougars Place man and woman in same home. Stir. Voila! Enjoy your happy, lasting marriage!

Something has been missing from our conversations about the changing nature of news and journalism education, and after gnawing on it for months, I think I finally have the words. Of course teaching students to tell stories across platforms is essential, and so is understanding the impact of new technologies on business models. But we also have to research and teach about how these new tools affect the epistemology of journalism.

A new report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism -- the home of the Pulitzer prizes, no less --  suggests that government funding might be a necessary part of the solution for preserving independent local news reporting. The report has been greeted by reactions ranging from interest to skepticism and outright dismissal. The need to preserve independent journalism

Last week's Balloon Boy story had to be seen to be believed.  Literally.   It was a perfect example of the media deciding because there were pictures, there was a story.  Without the live video of the silvery, homemade flying machine gliding across the skies of Colorado would so many people around the world have been so emotionally invested in the fate of 6 year-old Falcon Heene who they thought was inside?  Picture the whole episode as a radio story.  How would we have felt then?

California First Lady Maria Shriver says we're now living in a Woman's Nation -- women make up half the work force, the majority of mothers are the main breadwinners or co-breadwinners of their families and women are in charge of 80% of the high ticket item household spending. That, says Shriver, is some power we need to grab by the horns!

Three years ago, I saw a story on the news while I was at the gym. An investigative feature on the breast cancer awareness contributions that various corporations pledged during Breast Cancer Awareness Month found that most of these promotions led to increased sales and windfall profits that dwarfed the piddling donations that the extra sales generated. Until that moment, I was gung-ho about buying products marked with pink ribbons.

This week, CNN's Soledad O'Brien will anchor "Latino in America," the latest installment of her multi-year in-depth reports on America's multicultural identity. According to Baltimore Sun television critic David Zurawik, it's some of her best work:

One of my favorite Chinese proverbs says, "Women hold up half the sky." Some days I feel like it's more than half, but the point of the proverb is that women are equal partners with men in navigating through life. At least, we ought to be.

I know that the Golden Age of TV is supposedly long over, but what makes me really sad is how the boob tube literally continues to treat women and desire to control our fertility with rose colored glasses. The inability of network television to portray anything but women who "make the right choice" when faced with an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy is depressing.

When Conde Nast announced on Monday that it would ~ 30 ~ (or let's see, would that be ~ 86 ~?) Gourmet Magazine, 'The Magazine of Good Living' first published in 1941, food bloggers were among the first to mourn its passing. On Twitter, the word spread like melted butter; within a few minutes of the announcement, 'gourmet' was a trending topic. Even six days later, this morning a thoughtful piece from the Buffalo News is being TWed and RTed.